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Pitching Staff
SP - Gil O’Moore – O’Moore got off to an awful start in ’94 as he tried to make the adjustment after being acquired from Baltimore prior to the season. The month of April puts a damper on his overall season, but from May – September he was back to his old self. He still posted respectable numbers, but as a team we could never overcome the slow start we got off to, and Gil was part of that.
SP - Doug Miles – ’94 was a down year for Miles as he posted career highs in ERA (3.92) and L’s (14). We don’t expect a pitcher of his caliber to post a losing record (11-14) in any season during which he’s healthy, but receiving just 3.03 runs in support per game can bite any pitcher. We’re expecting a bit of a retrenching year in ’95.
SP - Migdonio Manhos – Unofficial Ace of the staff in ’94. We honestly picked up O’Moore prior to ’94 because we were unsure what we were going to get from the youngsters Manhos and Jacopino. We assumed one, if not both would struggle quite a bit due to inexperience, but Manhos performed like a seasoned vet. He notched duel awards in July, picking up both Rookie of the Month and Pitcher of the Month for his efforts.
SP - Robby Sears – Veteran arm that is here to soak up innings and give us a shot to win half the time. We don’t expect him to be a world beater, but we would like to see him compete every 5th day.
SP - Romano Jacopino – This young lefty took a liking to the IL, as we suspected he would. His solid ’94 campaign was brought to a halt by a knee injury suffered in early September, so we’re hoping he bounces back without much ill effect.
SP/RP - Shusaku Inoue – Inoue was very valuable to the pitching staff last season, filling in as a swing starter when we were short of off days, and helping to settle down the bullpen the rest of the time. He’ll probably serve the same role again this season.
RP – Ivan Perez – Ivan is like a security blanket for the pitching staff. He pitched exclusively out of the bullpen in ’94 and we’ll hope for a repeat of that scenario again in ’95. He could hop in the rotation if the need ever arises, but we like his steadying influence in the 80+ games he can impact out of the pen.
RP – David Felix – Got his feet wet during a September callup and acquitted himself decently during that stretch. He’ll be counted on to fill a MR spot in ’95, but we’ll keep a somewhat short leash on him due to his experience level.
RP - Colm Engle – Acquired in the Hector Pagan/Kel Brown deal. He was a targeted arm that is intended to upgrade our setup relief corps. He recently signed a 4 year extension so he will hopefully be a solid member of our pen for the foreseeable future.
RP - Joe Sanchez – One of the big disappointments on the staff last season, Sanchez took a huge step backwards. He was probably miscast in the CL role to begin the year, but he had successfully handled the duties in ’93, he just wasn’t up to the task again in ’94. He’ll settle into a setup role for the upcoming season.
CL - Don McNeill – McNeill isn’t flashy and he’ll probably never compete for a Last Call award, but if he can provide the same stability to the CL role that he brought in the second half of ’94, it’ll be welcomed.
Position Players
C – Hector Gonzalez – Gonzalez lived up to expectations in ’94, providing some pop (25 HR | .502 SLG) to an otherwise punchless offense. He’s in the final year of his contract and to this point has been unwilling to even entertain an extension, so this is likely a lame duck season for him. We’re hoping he makes it a good one.
1B – Kenichi Sato – JAG. Brought in to provide a 1 year solution to an ongoing problem: 1B. He’s also a FA to be at the end of the season so he’ll likely be one-and-done in Philly.
2B – Joshua Poling – Poling was as hot as he could be in the second half of the ’94 campaign but an unfortunate oblique injury at the end of August cost him the rest of the season and cost the team any legitimate chance we had of making a run at the wild card. He put up his first season with an OPS > .800 since 1986 and he did it in our pitcher friendly ballpark.
3B – Raul Marin – Former 1st round pick of the Freedom back in 1985, though he didn’t stick around long as he was traded two months after being drafted to Los Alamos for Carl Pateshall. He rejoins Philly as a minor FA acquisition after 7 solid seasons with Los Alamos.
SS – Curt Boyd/Maximo Taureda – This one’s a coin flip at this point. If Taureda shows more growth he should quickly supplant Boyd as the everyday starter with Boyd becoming the super utility IFer. If Taureda struggles, we’ll go with the veteran Boyd who doesn’t supply much at the plate, but flashes the leather in the field.
LF – Tadasuke Uchiyama – put up a slash line of .300 | .349 | .420 in his rookie season. A bit better than we were expecting, but we really protected him from LHP. We’re expecting more growth out of Uchi this season, primarily in the power/run production area.
CF – Dane Browning – Browning played in 6 games for us after being acquired from Denver prior to the trade deadline. His early returns were encouraging (albeit a ridiculously small sample size) as he finally solved our leadoff issues. We’re hoping he bounces back from his ankle injury and takes over the leadoff spot once again.
RF – Kel Brown – Brown will be the key to our offseason. Our scouts think he is barely scratching the surface on his talent so far in the majors, and this season will be a big indicator if he is what he is or if he is ready to jump to the next level. We’re obviously wagering on the latter.
Bench
C - Wally Yates – FA backup catcher picked up to mitigate the potential loss of Hector Gonzalez at the end of the year. He’ll actually platoon with Gonzalez quite a bit as we will try to give Gonzalez regular rest against LHP.
C/1B/3B/OF - Wes Fitzpatrick – Good catch and throw catcher, who can fill in (in an emergency) at several spots around the field.
IF - Maximo Taureda – Could be the starting SS, dropping Boyd to utility IF
OF – Chet Walton – Plus defensive CFer, hits from the right side of the plate so could find himself being platooned with our LH OFers. 8th round pick made good.
OF – Pete Lawson – Prototypical 4th/5th OFer. Good enough to fill in for short periods if a starter has to miss time, probably not quite good enough to be an everyday OFer. Speed to burn, so he definitely has his uses.
Season Outlook
For the first time in a few years we actually expect to contend for the division crown. We unexpectedly jumped up and contended for a playoff spot in '94, but we weren't quite ready and suffered some key injuries that kept us at home in October. We've made some key acquisitions this offseason in an attempt to address a few key weaknesses and it will be interesting to see how those new pieces fit into the puzzle. Is this "The Team to Beat"? We'd never go out on a limb and say something so brash, but we will say we are "The Team to Tangle with if You Want a Shot at the Playoffs in the Porter Division"©. Kind of catchy.
LINK
SP - Gil O’Moore – O’Moore got off to an awful start in ’94 as he tried to make the adjustment after being acquired from Baltimore prior to the season. The month of April puts a damper on his overall season, but from May – September he was back to his old self. He still posted respectable numbers, but as a team we could never overcome the slow start we got off to, and Gil was part of that.
SP - Doug Miles – ’94 was a down year for Miles as he posted career highs in ERA (3.92) and L’s (14). We don’t expect a pitcher of his caliber to post a losing record (11-14) in any season during which he’s healthy, but receiving just 3.03 runs in support per game can bite any pitcher. We’re expecting a bit of a retrenching year in ’95.
SP - Migdonio Manhos – Unofficial Ace of the staff in ’94. We honestly picked up O’Moore prior to ’94 because we were unsure what we were going to get from the youngsters Manhos and Jacopino. We assumed one, if not both would struggle quite a bit due to inexperience, but Manhos performed like a seasoned vet. He notched duel awards in July, picking up both Rookie of the Month and Pitcher of the Month for his efforts.
SP - Robby Sears – Veteran arm that is here to soak up innings and give us a shot to win half the time. We don’t expect him to be a world beater, but we would like to see him compete every 5th day.
SP - Romano Jacopino – This young lefty took a liking to the IL, as we suspected he would. His solid ’94 campaign was brought to a halt by a knee injury suffered in early September, so we’re hoping he bounces back without much ill effect.
SP/RP - Shusaku Inoue – Inoue was very valuable to the pitching staff last season, filling in as a swing starter when we were short of off days, and helping to settle down the bullpen the rest of the time. He’ll probably serve the same role again this season.
RP – Ivan Perez – Ivan is like a security blanket for the pitching staff. He pitched exclusively out of the bullpen in ’94 and we’ll hope for a repeat of that scenario again in ’95. He could hop in the rotation if the need ever arises, but we like his steadying influence in the 80+ games he can impact out of the pen.
RP – David Felix – Got his feet wet during a September callup and acquitted himself decently during that stretch. He’ll be counted on to fill a MR spot in ’95, but we’ll keep a somewhat short leash on him due to his experience level.
RP - Colm Engle – Acquired in the Hector Pagan/Kel Brown deal. He was a targeted arm that is intended to upgrade our setup relief corps. He recently signed a 4 year extension so he will hopefully be a solid member of our pen for the foreseeable future.
RP - Joe Sanchez – One of the big disappointments on the staff last season, Sanchez took a huge step backwards. He was probably miscast in the CL role to begin the year, but he had successfully handled the duties in ’93, he just wasn’t up to the task again in ’94. He’ll settle into a setup role for the upcoming season.
CL - Don McNeill – McNeill isn’t flashy and he’ll probably never compete for a Last Call award, but if he can provide the same stability to the CL role that he brought in the second half of ’94, it’ll be welcomed.
Position Players
C – Hector Gonzalez – Gonzalez lived up to expectations in ’94, providing some pop (25 HR | .502 SLG) to an otherwise punchless offense. He’s in the final year of his contract and to this point has been unwilling to even entertain an extension, so this is likely a lame duck season for him. We’re hoping he makes it a good one.
1B – Kenichi Sato – JAG. Brought in to provide a 1 year solution to an ongoing problem: 1B. He’s also a FA to be at the end of the season so he’ll likely be one-and-done in Philly.
2B – Joshua Poling – Poling was as hot as he could be in the second half of the ’94 campaign but an unfortunate oblique injury at the end of August cost him the rest of the season and cost the team any legitimate chance we had of making a run at the wild card. He put up his first season with an OPS > .800 since 1986 and he did it in our pitcher friendly ballpark.
3B – Raul Marin – Former 1st round pick of the Freedom back in 1985, though he didn’t stick around long as he was traded two months after being drafted to Los Alamos for Carl Pateshall. He rejoins Philly as a minor FA acquisition after 7 solid seasons with Los Alamos.
SS – Curt Boyd/Maximo Taureda – This one’s a coin flip at this point. If Taureda shows more growth he should quickly supplant Boyd as the everyday starter with Boyd becoming the super utility IFer. If Taureda struggles, we’ll go with the veteran Boyd who doesn’t supply much at the plate, but flashes the leather in the field.
LF – Tadasuke Uchiyama – put up a slash line of .300 | .349 | .420 in his rookie season. A bit better than we were expecting, but we really protected him from LHP. We’re expecting more growth out of Uchi this season, primarily in the power/run production area.
CF – Dane Browning – Browning played in 6 games for us after being acquired from Denver prior to the trade deadline. His early returns were encouraging (albeit a ridiculously small sample size) as he finally solved our leadoff issues. We’re hoping he bounces back from his ankle injury and takes over the leadoff spot once again.
RF – Kel Brown – Brown will be the key to our offseason. Our scouts think he is barely scratching the surface on his talent so far in the majors, and this season will be a big indicator if he is what he is or if he is ready to jump to the next level. We’re obviously wagering on the latter.
Bench
C - Wally Yates – FA backup catcher picked up to mitigate the potential loss of Hector Gonzalez at the end of the year. He’ll actually platoon with Gonzalez quite a bit as we will try to give Gonzalez regular rest against LHP.
C/1B/3B/OF - Wes Fitzpatrick – Good catch and throw catcher, who can fill in (in an emergency) at several spots around the field.
IF - Maximo Taureda – Could be the starting SS, dropping Boyd to utility IF
OF – Chet Walton – Plus defensive CFer, hits from the right side of the plate so could find himself being platooned with our LH OFers. 8th round pick made good.
OF – Pete Lawson – Prototypical 4th/5th OFer. Good enough to fill in for short periods if a starter has to miss time, probably not quite good enough to be an everyday OFer. Speed to burn, so he definitely has his uses.
Season Outlook
For the first time in a few years we actually expect to contend for the division crown. We unexpectedly jumped up and contended for a playoff spot in '94, but we weren't quite ready and suffered some key injuries that kept us at home in October. We've made some key acquisitions this offseason in an attempt to address a few key weaknesses and it will be interesting to see how those new pieces fit into the puzzle. Is this "The Team to Beat"? We'd never go out on a limb and say something so brash, but we will say we are "The Team to Tangle with if You Want a Shot at the Playoffs in the Porter Division"©. Kind of catchy.
LINK
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